HTML format and formats derived from it are known. They are used to edit multimedia pages on intranet networks or the Internet. The HTML format produces the description of pages by means of descriptors that are recognized by a dedicated consultation software, and which reconstitute the graphical representation in accordance with the layout determined by the page designer.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,199,082 discloses a multimedia publishing system for the production of content and management of page layout. This publishing system is based on an architecture comprising an editing station which uploads objects onto a server so that the latter can be stored and then distributed, to be consulted by an end user through a query issued by a browser. The content and page layout of each object are separate. When a client accesses the objects on the server using a browser, the client downloads the content and page layout. This first download is used to cache the page layout so as to only retrieve the content during the subsequent downloads. The page interpreted by the browser is generated from a file that includes the content to be displayed, accompanied by style sheets chosen from amongst N sheets created by the site editor.
This multimedia publishing system constitutes a Web site content-generation tool. In this tool basic processing for each of the objects only occurs once the content and the page layout is processed, i.e., during the creation of the objects by the editor, upstream of its diffusion. Furthermore, the interpretation by the browser of a single uploaded file does not allow the offering of different visual representations of a page, either in terms of the shape of content for example, or indeed of the page layout.
Also known are Web sites, but the latter have several disadvantages.
First, they use consultation software installed on the host terminals, commonly known by the name of “browsers”, which operate with relatively complex menus requiring special difficult settings, using a plurality of separate windows superimposed on each other, and ending up finally with a relatively significant blanking of the main information coming from the site by secondary technical information coming from the consultation tool. The principal message is therefore less effective because of the design of these browsers. Furthermore, it involves an application which is not designed to coexist continuously with other applications that are running. It is generally not possible to work simultaneously on several active applications when one is a browser.
The format of the Web sites also give rise to other disadvantages because of the lack of homogeneity of the representations from one software environment to another. The representation varies according to the browser and operating system used, sometimes leading to malfunctions and graphical anomalies. In addition, they result in significant wait times, and the sites adhering to the Web format are incompatible with protocols such as WAP or interactive television, except to use translation gateways.
Finally, the search for a site is difficult because of the enormous number of search engines and indexing systems, with no guarantee of exhaustiveness, and operating independently in relation to the registration of the sites, which remains optional and outside the control of the site distributor.
It would therefore be helpful to allow an end user to view multimedia content coming from a server, and navigate within that content in a manner that is configurable by parameters chosen by the user. It would also be helpful to reduce the development cost of the applications and reduce the total file size of the pages transmitted.